Journalism prof warned students about internships at 'Q' because of Jian Ghomeshi

by Mark Teo

November 3, 2014

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Additionally, Ghomeshi's old band Moxy Fruvous issue a statement and Lights drops him as manager.

One of the most tragic parts about Jian Ghomeshi’s ongoing scandal is that, by all accounts, and to varying degrees, plenty of people knew about his alleged actions. Jesse Brown, the freelance journalist who’d been researching the accusations against Ghomeshi, today published an episode of the Canadaland podcast, featuring an ex-Q staffer who claimed he witnessed workplace harassment. Last week, a blog post titled “Do You Know About Jian” went viral with the suggestion that yes, everyone knew about Jian. Indeed, everyone—save, perhaps, for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who published a profile of Ghomeshi, completely oblivious to the scandal—seemed to understand Ghomeshi’s reputation, specifically as it pertains to women.

That reputation, it seems, followed him all the way into academia, where, the Toronto Star reports, University of Western Ontario journalism students were warned against taking Q internships due to his “flirty” nature with students. Lecturer Jeremy Copeland, who once served as a video reporter for the CBC, says he discouraged females from taking internships after an ex-student complained of Ghomeshi’s predatory behaviour.

The student, who completed her internship in 2012, claimed that Ghomeshi inappropriately touched her, and sent unprofessional text messages with unwanted advances. Understandably, she wished to remain anonymous.

The ex-intern says that Ghomeshi invited her into a CBC studio after the show, and after chatting about the show, he became flirty, asking for a hug, pressing his body against her “backside,” and putting his hands on her hips. “As I’m walking towards the door, he was behind me, kind of hugging me from behind and walking with me,” she told the Star. “That’s when I thought, whoa, this is kind of a bit much.”

Ghomeshi then texted her, asking to meet up for a “non-work” drink. He backed off and became angry when she joked that, “If you could help me get a job that would be cool, too.”

The program had previously formally stopped sending students to in 2008, as they say that interns weren’t doing journalistic work with the program, and instead were asked to do menial work. Copeland, the journalism prof, found it to be an abuse of authority—and accordingly, declared the show “off-limits” for students.

Ghomeshi’s supposed reputation—or the ever-evolving scandal—is also impacting the music world. Lights, who Ghomeshi had managed for years, initially posted on Facebook supporting the Q star. Over the weekend, however, the pop star announced that their professional relationship was over.

“I posted comments about Jian Ghomeshi the day after he was dismissed by the CBC where I rushed to defend my manager of 12 years,” she wrote. “I am now aware that my comments appear insensitive to those impacted and for that I am deeply sorry.”

“This is to confirm that as of now I will be parting ways with Jian Ghomeshi as my manager. I hope everyone can heal from this.”

Moxy Fruvous, Ghomeshi’s former band, also sent an email statement to the Globe and Mail on Friday. “As former colleagues of Jian (our last show was in 2000), we are sickened and saddened by this week’s news. We had no inkling that Jian engaged in this type of behaviour,” the band wrote. “We abhor the idea of a sexual relationship of any sort being entered into without full consent from both parties and condemn violence against women in any form. We wish only health and healing to everyone involved.”

As today’s Canadaland podcast stated, “We all knew about Jian.” It looks like the rest of the world’s finding out about him, too.

Tags: Music, Cancon, News, jian ghomeshi, Lights, moxy fruvous

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